Twisted Metal Creator Refused Tencent's $100 Million Offer

gamerant.com:

Over the past couple of years, Tencent has made a name for itself due to its aggressive expansion plans in the western game development scene. While the Chinese-owned company has been reasonably successful in securing a foothold in the gaming industry, it would seem that not all of its advances were met with positivity and optimism.

David Jaffe, the original designer of the Twisted Metal series of games, is now claiming that he recently rejected a $100 million business offer from Tencent. His reasoning was, according to a recent Sacred Symbols+ podcast, based on the fact that Tencent is a Chinese enterprise: «I don't want to do business with a company like that, with a government like that,» he explained.

Tencent Files Trademark for 'Origin of the Wild'

The list of studios that Tencent acquired is rather long indeed, ranging from Klei Entertainment (Mark of the Ninja,Don't Starve) all the way to Turtle Rock Studios (Back 4 Blood, Evolve). Jaffe wasn't interested in adding his own name to the list, however, based on his principles. «In China, you just get picked up off the street if you go online and say something bad,» he said. To that end, he claims that he immediately refused the offer that seems to have come from one of Tencent's western executives.

Jaffe even posted his response to the $100 million business offer via his Twitter account, in an attempt to dissuade people criticising him and claiming that he was making the whole thing up. «I don't lie,» said Jaffe. Granted, it's unclear what, exactly, the business deal would've entailed, as Jaffe currently doesn't seem to have a game development studio of his own, and Tencent is mainly interested in buying shares of existing studios, as shown by the recent majority